1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power device packages and methods of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to power device packages, each of which includes a thermal electric module using the Peltier effect and thus can improve operational reliability by rapidly dissipating heat generated during operation to the outside, and methods of fabricating the power device packages.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the power electronic industry develops power devices, such as power transistors, insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), MOS transistors, silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs), power rectifiers, servo drivers, power regulators, inverters, and converters, demands for lighter and smaller power products with improved performance are increasing. To meet these demands, research is being actively conducted on smart power modules or intelligent power modules, which can integrate not only various power semiconductor chips into a single package but also include control semiconductor chips, such as integrated circuit chips, for controlling the power semiconductor chips.
Conventional power device packages have been fabricated by mounting a plurality of semiconductor chips on a substrate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,399 assigned to Mitsubishi discloses a power device package in which power semiconductor chips and control semiconductor chips mounted on one lead frame are molded into one package. Typically, since power device packages generate heat during operation, it is important to rapidly dissipate the heat to the outside for reliable operation. Since the generated heat is generally discharged to the outside through a substrate, when a substrate, such as a ceramic substrate, having a low heat transfer coefficient, is used, there is a limitation in improving heat transfer characteristics.